San Diego

SD was more business than pleasure than MIA, but let me be clear-- doing business in SD is a pleasure. 

I had a few interviews at law firms, we got to hang with my good friend Ashley & her fam, AND we got to do Callie & Jesse's wedding photos. Such a fun few days! 

Miami Family Photos

I coerced Danny into taking some family photos while we were in Miami. And that is all I really have to say about this. 

Miami Part 2

On the last day in Miami (also my bday) we kayaked through Oleta state park. Its a park literally 5 minutes away from where we used to live, and is this little jungley oasis in the middle of the city. Kinda feels like central park in NYC but in the water. I was legitimately afraid to fall out for fear of snakes, crocs, and weird bugs.

mangrove trees for days

oh my sweet jelly fish! when we got out into the bay, I looked down at where I was paddling, and there were HUNDREDS of jellyfish. I have seen a lot of jellyfish in my day, but this was like.. fall out of your kayak and die kind of jellyfish brigade. It reminded me of the scene on Finding Nemo where Dori gets capped by the jellies. 

We made it into the middle of the bay onto this island, and there were tons washed up on shore. You can touch the tops of them.. (remember our jellyfish sandcastle christmas tree?) just watch our for their tentacles. 

in the bay, headed to that little island

Some pics of when we flew out: 

the everglades

our city:

Goodbye for now Miami! 

Next up on the blog: San Diego

P.S. Follow me by clicking on the icon on the top rightish of the screen! 

Moving on: Miami Part 1

I have millions more pictures I could share with you from Africa, and I still promise a video of the whole experience to make you feel like you were there, but for now, we are moving on.

On our way home from Uganda, we had a quick layover in Turkey. It also happened to be on the last day of Ramadan, and during the time where Egypt went even more nuts than it was when we flew into Africa (and spent forever in the airport instead of seeing the pyramids). Point being, there was heightened security at the airport. During our couple of hours there, we were interviewed a couple of times, went through  no less than 6 security check points-- all of which we showed our passports at. Crazy. There were people everywhere. We were fortunate enough to happen upon some real-ish tasting ice cream. The first in several weeks for me! So I was a happy camper. 

Landed in Miami @ 3am- jumped in a rental car, and away we went. And how I love the sunshine state! We were sad that none of our friends were there (it was summer break for everyone in school = they go see families) but we were stokkkked to get a great deal at the Westin Resort! 

We made a ridiculously low bid on priceline, and it was accepted. And then when we got there.. they had upgraded our room for us. So we stayed in this seriously sweet master suite. Which was such a treat after being dirty for 5 weeks. I remember the first night taking a shower and being in such disbelief at 1) how warm the water was 2) how much water pressure there was and 3) how clean I was. And laying in clean sheets with a thread count of 10000000 with my clean body.. ohhhh it was so great.

Apart from my birthday, I can't even tell you what we did in FL. Oh wait yes I can. Hung at the beach every waking moment. I mean that quite literally. I would wake up at 6-630 ish (jet laggg) and run for like an hour down the beach. Come home, wake up Dan, eat some delicious tasting American breakfast, play inthe waves (there were actually biggish waves! thank you florida! biggest ones ive seen in miami area anyway) then nap for a couple of hours in the sand, then play at the sweet pool. And eat lots of blue bell ice cream and at all our old favorite restaurants. So heavenly. There have already been several moments this semester where I have sat and closed my eyes and just remembered how magical our Miami trip was. 

ok ok, on to pictures. I'll do a separate bday post so as not to picture overload you.

Remember this pose from Koh Tao Thailand?

resort's pool- note the looking glass from the other pool above this one

we miss seeing lambos and farrari's everyday in our neighborhood

danny's dream come true-- a return to Duffy's. Home of the biggest burger I've seen (pictured under that tower of onion rings) 

view of Sunny Isles (our old hood) from Duffys

One of the many spectacular views from our wrap around balcony. 

and another view

a

and another view

Why yes I did save the life of this blowfish! That was seriously still living. even though a tiny part of me wanted to keep him. 

We moved to Miami completely homeless without the first clue about how to find housing in the area. We would check out of this hotel every morning, with high hopes of finding our future home, only to check back in @ night. Note the lack of windows. Also the man behind the counter sits behind bullet proof glass. Always makes ya feel good. By the end of our week (maybe more like 10 days? who knows), we were besties with the Indian man who runs the place. And luckily we didnt have to live here permanently and we found an amazing apartment right across from the beach. #blessed

This is Dannys former school. When we found out he was accepted to dental school, we both stood right outside these doors and balled our bloody eyes out. 

this is about the happiest face mine can make. Running on the beach. 

I never saw real waves the entire time we lived there-- but for some reason we had pretty fun little mini body surfing waves the whole time we were there!